Simply Grand

Thinking of you and Danny DDD. He sounds like such a tough little guy and he is indeed very lucky to have you

They're great! Love the poker :laugh:

Great job doing your research and taking on board advice Mercedes! Having worked in a shelter I've seen too many dumped adolescents because people haven't done their research and prepared for the work they will need to put in when they get a puppy. I do still think the Collie would be a better match than the retrievers with the young kids, for the reason I mentioned before. Retrievers can be very bouncy, active and cheeky and the kids will really need to work to be calm and consistent, whereas a Collie is likely to be that bit calmer. However, PLENTY of families successfully raise Retrievers so as long as you are prepared to make the commitment to deal with the hard parts I'm sure you'll do great with whichever you pick :)

Four weeks is my favourite age, when they all start actually running to you but they're still clumsy on their little legs and their play with each other and little noises. So cute!

I don't think it's even balance issues Panzer, his feet just slide out from under him sometimes and down he goes. He just jumps up again and continues on his way :laugh: I call him my special middle child :)

I'm trying to figure out the words to explain why I say Riley seems like he has Asperger's... He's not dumb and is teachable and pays attention but he takes a long time to learn new things. Once it eventually clicks for him though he loves to show me his tricks. As an example it took him until he was 2 years old to figure out fetch although he always loved the ball. It was a step by step process of first of all actually pick up the ball, then carry it a little way then bring it a bit closer then eventually bring it all the way to me. I know that's a learning process for most dogs but 2 years? :laugh: He also will only fetch for me and a limited number of other people he's known for a while in the context of playing fetch, although he'll stand and bark at people to throw the ball when they actually do throw it he looks confused and just walks away. He's funny about people, usually he avoids people he doesn't know and even those he does (other than me) but then some days he's randomly friendly and happy to walk up to strangers and get pats. He's always super affectionate with me though. He doesn't mind being around other dogs but has never figured out how to play with them, he can play chase with Saxon and chase and wrestle with Quinn but that's it. If other dogs around him start playing and he gets excited he runs at Quinn and grabs onto the fur around her neck. EVERY time, that's his only way of playing. He's also clumsy, he tends to just randomly fall over sometimes and since he learnt to jump into my arms on cue he will just do it sometimes even when I'm clearly carrying a box or something and can't catch him. He just falls back on the ground. He's very routine driven too, with things like getting up in the morning I have to take him straight outside because his routine is to pee as soon as he gets up so if I don't get him outside he'll go on the carpet, even though at other times he's fine to hold on until he can get outside. He also sometimes seems to just bark at nothing without thinking and when you interrupt him by saying "what?" he looks around like he didn't even realise he was barking. They're all little things that don't necessarily sound like anything, but just as an overall package he's an "odd" little dog. It doesn't bother me at all or cause any real problems, it's actually hilarious but he's definitely a little bit speshul.

Terri, I don't think you have any reason to be mad at yourself, you're doing a great job of working on Didi's issues. Unfortunately things just happen sometimes It really sucks that people can't respect what you ask them to do around your own dog. Then you're left either having to come across as a cranky crazy person by being really blunt and firm with people or deal with the consequences to your dog and possibly to them if they don't respond to your more polite requests If I was you I would muzzle train Didi and have one on her when you're out in places where you're likely to run into people. It's ridiculously unfair that you'd have to resort to that but people are much more likely to avoid a large muzzled dog and to respect you when you ask them to steer clear. If fitted well and introduced properly the muzzle doesn't need to be a big deal for Didi, it can just become part of the 'going out' routine like the lead going on. Hope maddogdodge doesn't mind me sharing but here is a photo she shared in the Aussie thread of her boy wearing his muzzle, which he wears out and about. http://s1298.photobucket.com/user/maddogdodge/media/10696367_867363099949799_8845372730121320259_n_zpse18655dd.jpg.html

I just ha another thought. Bear in mind that having 6 people in the household, 4 of them children, is going to make training general good behaviour challenging for you. Dogs, especially puppies, really need CONSISTENCY when they are being taught how to behave and children naturally find it difficult to provide that consistency, particularly with things like no attention for jumping, calm reactions to mouthing, no pulling on lead etc. It's not the kids fault by any means, they are kids, but I've seen and heard about many families with kids becoming very frustrated with puppy behaviour. So my point is, I'd be looking at a calm, biddable breed as much as possible. I think you would be more likely to have issues with the more independent thinking breeds like Spitz and Terriers. I don't really know enough about Spaniels to know where they fit in, same with Corgis, although I get the impression that they would be calmer and easier to manage than some of the others.

Imagine how different her story would have been if someone with a big dog just happened to have done the same thing she did at the same time and there had been an issue with her dog. Bet she wouldn't have been saying council should be justifying their fines and enforcement practices then.

Convenient that the woman in question is a journalist who works for the company that produced the article. National press coverage for your own little whinge *eye roll*

That's what I was thinking too, what kind of lesson is that for the daughter? Just ask and mummy and daddy will get you whatever you want with money, even if it belongs to someone else

I've often said that if my Sheltie was a human child I'd suspect he had Aspergers (Autism spectrum). He just doesn't quite relate to the world "normally". I say it light heartedly but I do actually genuinely believe it.

Shelties are generally not robust kids' dogs, and they do tend to be barkers. From what I know of Rough Collies they'd be a better family dog. Grooming with Collie breeds is not actually that bad, they're pretty Teflon when it comes to dirt and a brush once a week normally is fine, a few times a week with an undercoat comb during coat drop twice a year :) I don't have personal experience living with Corgis but the ones I've met have generally been great, stable sorts of dogs and I've heard several reports of them being good family dogs. Kelpiecuddles on here has a Basset and from what I gather she's fantastic with the kids :) I don't like to generalize negatively about breeds I don't have personal experience living or working closely with but from what I have experienced of mini and standard Dachshunds I don't think they'd be the best match for a family looking for an easy to live with companion. I think a Cocker from a good breeder who can match you to a pup could be a good match. Mini Poodle, Maltese, Havanese or Bichon Frise well socialised from a good breeder could also work. If you're willing to commit to 6 weekly professional grooming session the in between grooming is pretty easy :) ETA - you beat me to it kc.

I think so much depends on the personality of the partiular dog. There were some dogs we trained at the shelter that had strong personalities and you needed to be very firm with them. I do use physical means to restrain a dog or move them away when necessary but I also use my body language, tone of voice and "energy" (not to sound too much like Cesar but I do love his 'calm, assertive energy' mantra). I figured out that Riley gets more distressed and aroused when on the lead in a challenging situation but he is calmer when I am holding him. He learnt to jump into my arms on cue as a trick and he loves doing it so I use that all the time if I want to get him out of a risky situation, call him excitedly and he runs and jumps then I can hold on to him and he stays calmer and quieter. I don't know what exactly he reads in the dogs he reacts to. I can't necessarily pick that it's a young, less confident dog but I can only remember one time he reacted and the dog reacted back at him, and Quinn was actually being played with very roughly by that dog so I think he was trying to defend her. Every other time it's been dogs that roll over or run away. He must pick up on their energy.

BTW, proper BAT needs to be in much more controlled circumstances than that. I would never recommend dealing with serious reactivity in a dog park situation with other people's dogs! I only did it like that with Riley because he is ok being around other dogs generally and he can cope with his discomfort and recover well. I was also confident he wouldn't physically hurt another dog or be in real physical danger himself. I still pick and choose the other dogs he interacts with too so there are times when I'll decide nope, this is going to be too much of a risk and just get us out of there.

Yay Jake!! Great job HD :) I keep meaning to come back and post what I did with Riley, so here goes. To start with I basically just tried to avoid dogs I thought would trigger him, then tried putting the lead on him and staying a bit closer to triggers and correcting with leash pops on a martingale collar but to be honest I'm not a big fan of physical punishment and although people use the term correction and say it's not a punishment the idea of it is to reduce an undesirable behaviour so it is a punisher. Anyway, regardless of that debate Riley is such a sensitive dog that he isn't an ideal candidate for physical punishment even if it is useful in some cases. As I learnt more about dog behaviour it became really clear that he is actually quite unsure of other dogs and uncomfortable when another dog has its attention directly on him. So while he's fine being near other dogs running around etc when a dog approaches him directly, even of it's friendly he feels very worried. If the other dog is confident Riley won't react, he just stands there looking worried until it goes away but the ones he reacted to were invariably the less confident ones, particularly younger, less experienced ones and they would always back down and show submission when he carried on with his barking and snapping. So even though he was good at picking his targets and was probably pretty safe himself his reaction was being reinforced each time he did it and it was incredibly unfair to the dogs he was intimidating (even though plenty of owners of larger breeds than him thought it was funny when their dog was intimidated by a little barking fluffy ). So, once I figured that out I switched to building a positive association with other dogs, so starting off whenever another dog came nearby I would just start talking to him to keep his attention on me and shoving treats in his mouth. Then I gradually increased the criteria so that the other dog had to be closer and closer before he started getting the treats and eventually we could have a trigger dog right there sniffing around him while he remained focused on me and getting the treats. Then I started asking him to hold his attention on me while the other dogs were around but waiting til there had been some interaction (him glancing at the other dog then back to me, him staying focused on me while the other dog sniffed him) then I would give praise and run backwards calling him away THEN give him the treats. So that was the start of the sort of BAT angle, where he was learning that moving away from the other dog rather than reacting was rewarding, both in relieving the stress of the other dog and getting a food reward. Then it became a matter of watching him closely and catching him in those moments where he has some little interaction with another dog then heaping on the excited praise from wherever I was standing and encouraging him over to me. I also started variable rewarding with the treats then so sometimes he gets a treat and sometimes just pats and praise. So what he did the other day was him putting that process into play himself, without the prompts from me :) It's still two steps forward, one back though. Last time we were at the park there were two sets of dogs (one a GSD and one a family of three SBTs, mum, dad and pup) that i was just not comfortable with and even though we stayed in the smaller fenced off side of the park from them Quinn and the GSD had some words through the fence and the SBTs ganged up and attacked another dog so there was tension in the air and Riley was a bit reactive towards dogs he's been fine with before so his stress level was obviously up. Sorry for the long rambling post! Hopefully it makes sense, I'm on the iPhone as I need to recharge my proper Internet. Feel free to ask questions if things make no sense :laugh:

Look at the little sleepy face on Brown

Oh no Maybe they have a tummy bug going around that is unrelated to Danny's other conditions but is just worse for him because of everything else. I know if one of mine has a runny tummy or vomits they all tend to. Hopefully it passes soon. It's extra tough when you need them to keep meds down though! OT but my iPhone does the freeze thing and I'm on the second iPad that now has battery problems where it randomly turns itself off then back on again. So annoying, but I love the iPad so much for internet and ibooks that I'll probably get another one :laugh:

I reckon talking to a compounding chemist is a great idea. One of the Canberra ones specifically advertises that they make various forms of veterinary meds. Also bear in mind that the only way to pill most cats is the shove it down the throat method so if it really comes down to it, size wise it is doable with small dogs (I actually used to do it with Saxon at first as I'd only had cats before and couldn't believe you could just put a pill in a smear of peanut butter and a dog would voluntarily eat it :laugh: ) You've probably already done it but I agree with trying to get tonight's meds into him. Poor little fella. Still, he's lucky he has such a dedicated owner :)

I was reading through thinking that I don't think mine are particularly spoilt when I had to stop what I was doing so Quinn could put her paws on my shoulders and give my face a good lick all over. She does this every evening when I first sit down on the couch and I let her just because she seems to think it's very important that my face is suitably dog smelling. Maybe she is slightly spoilt

From the website: "WE ARE DITCHING STEREOTYPES Each specific breed of canine comes in all shapes, sizes and colours. " Umm, no they don't, that's the point of specific breeds And line breeding is "incest" :laugh: Yes, I'm sure that's how dogs see it. ETA As far as I'm concerned they can have their registry and do whatever they want with it but don't feed people misinformation

Just adding, I have a little indoor dog toilet, just a cheap one from the reject shop. It works well, they choose to go on it over the hard floor. It does get smelly though so I take it straight outside to rinse and air when I get home. That's with two dogs using it though and one is 21kgs so produces more than a smaller dog obviously. A better quality dog toilet might keep the smell down better too. I'd definitely invest in one if I had no outdoor area. My oldest one, the poodle x, is in a separate area from the other two and he holds on all day and just goes straight out when I get home. He is fine to go out onto the shared grass area off lead (it's at the back of the house so away from the road), I either go out with him or stand at the door and watch him then he comes back in. If he happens to need to go while I'm not home he goes to a spot on the tiles and goes there and i just clean it up but generally he holds. If he needs to go out while I'm home he stands near the door and either whines or just watches me until I notice him :laugh: As Terri suggested too I sometimes put the others on a long lead, just one of the extender ones (which only ise for that, not walking) and take them out to the grass for a wander around. My sister had a rabbit that was mostly indoors and yep, he caused more destruction than the dogs :)

It was the poor transgender woman who was killed who was breeding dogs, not the the awful man who murdered her. The quote was from the girl's mother who still refers to her as a son. But even if it was the murderer who was breeding the dogs I hardly see how that is at all relevant to BYB and puppy farmers needing tougher regulation nor in anyway a sufficient argument to 'rest your case'. How can a prostitute that travels the world as a hooker, who just moved to Brisbane from Melbourne. Who was living in a high-rise apartment equal an ethical dog breeder? This is just one of hundreds of examples I could pull. Sex work is a legitimate occupation, your moral objections to it does not necessarily equate to somebody being incapable of caring for animals. I don't really think there's enough information on this poor woman's breeding practices for you to use her as an example and I think she's suffered enough without needing to be further vilified, perhaps use one of your other hundreds of other examples instead. Also I don't think high-rise apartments rule people out of being ethical breeders if they only have one male and female that are toy breeds. Also as for rescue pups and kittens in petshops... the pet shops don't really profit from them, they are merely used as a platform by rescues and shelters to find homes. Anyone wanting to purchase one would still need to undergo the same checks as if they were getting the dog directly from the shelter or rescue as they don't belong to the petshop. I don't think it's in anyway comparable to pet shop puppies and does not harbor the same negative elements that puppies born in horrible conditions, shipped all across the country and sold for ridiculous prices to anyone willing to buy them does. They say Petshops are not responsible because it encourages impulse buying which means that puppy or cat has a higher rate being dumped. How do you know that the previously dumped dog, that is advertised in a pet shop won't get re dumped? Ban all pet shop sales I don't think you have an understanding of how it works when rescue groups work in conjunction with pet shops. People who do know have explained earlier in the thread. Those dogs have basically as good a chance of finding their permanent home as any dog homed through a rescue as potential adopters go through the same process. It's a completely different scenario to sales staff selling a cute puppy that a breeder has already sold to the pet shop as stock to whomever offers the sale price.

They are both dead They were both breeding dogs as they lived together in one apartment and were married which equals one union. I rest my case. I don't understand what case you are resting?? No one who might die should breed dogs? No one married or living in one place should breed dogs? I don't like the random breeding of dogs for the sake of it better than anyone else but I have no idea what the deal was with this particular couple and still cannot see how their individual case has anything to do with what legislation is or should be.

I have three dogs. When I first got each of them I did have a yard and they had a dog door so had access in and outside. Through life circumstances we currently don't have a yard. Like you, I'm in a unit with a shared, unfenced yard. Due to the layout I have been able to fence off a small concrete patio area so they can go outside when I'm home but it isn't secure enough to give them access when I'm not monitoring so they are shut inside whenever I'm out and overnight. It isn't ideal but it's manageable however it means almost all of my spare time is committed to them. Admittedly the younger two are working breeds (Sheltie and Aussie Shepherd) so need more exercise than toy breeds (ETA a Cocker is of course also a working breed) so my ideal with them is a 30 min walk in the morning, an hour min. off lead run at our local fenced park in the evening and with me pottering around the rest of the time. Even with that they can be destructive when entertaining themselves when I'm out so being house proud is out and leaving them with appropriate things to destroy when I leave them, as well as a clean up every time I come home is essential. However it is doable, they are happy and healthy and for me it's well worth it. Having said all that, my oldest dog, a now 5 year old poodle x Maltese on his own could quite happily have grown up in and still be living in an apartment as long as he had me for company as much as possible outside of work and had a walk and exposure to new interesting things for mental stimulation at least 4 or 5 times a week. I reckon it would be perfectly do-able with a Cocker as long as were up front with the breeder about your circumstances and willing to wait for a suitable individual, and of course are willing to make the lifelong commitment to give it what it needed. For me it's a case of I NEED to have a dog so I will do what I have to to make it work. The good thing about an owner living in an apartment is that you don't have the option of leaving the dog in the backyard on its own so regardless of all the other aspects at least there is a much better chance of ensuring the dog gets to spend lots of time with its owner :)